Its good to be back home after our hols…not that our holiday was terrible, it was wonderful in fact, but its always good to come home. Our busmans holiday did us good…the holiness meeting went well at St Ives as did our beach warfare. We enjoyed spending time with Captain Penny chatting through her corps review and giving suggestions and help when we could. Perfomed some healing ministry on Pennys computer….it only had 15,585 infections…and I’m not joking!

Anyway, today it was back to Pill and we had a good morning meeting sharing a love feast to try and iron out some things. Was a helpful meeting I think. There were a few not there that I’d have liked to have been there…but not to worry.

We are back and we’ve hit the ground running…got lots to do. So will leave any more blogging until tomorrow!

It’s been good to chat recently with a few people around the territory on the subject of corps health. It alarms me, however, the amount of people who say of gossip and chatter being a big part of corps life. Is this a neccessity for the survival of a corps….does it really have to be there, is it inevitable? We certainly see Paul tackling it head on in the early church, Corinth especially.

I guess it comes down to how we deal with each others failures. Human nature as it is will possibly mean that we will find people we don’t quite get on with or gel with. But then, we must never let human nature be an excuse for failure and behaviour less than Christian. At the end of the day, there is none of us who has been faultless in this regard, but there has to come a day when we simply let things go, talk sensibly about our grumbles and move on.

We must remember who the enemy is. If we are divided we will fall. For my part in any disunity I am humbly sorry when I have been at fault. I wonder if there is anyone else who will sense that, for the sake of the Kingdom, we must put our minds on higher things. Perhaps we should call a grumble amnesty. Write it on a bit of paper, read it, pray about it, if its still important enough after all that then go to the person that is concerned and deal with it. Thats the only godly way to deal with it folks. Its diffcult but it saves a lot of heartache in the long run.

We have a glorious Kingdom, a glorious promise, a glorious Saviour…lets endeavour to life him higher by displaying our Kingdom love for each other.

Its unfortunate that I can’t really write about some things today. There are thoughs and feelings that sometime you have to keep to yourself. We had some blessings and victories today but only on some quarters. I’d have wanted more.

Yes, I do get dissappointed when people don’t respond to the Word. I get more upset when people don’t respond because they have something against me. The tension between making leadership decisions to help move the congregation on and being the preacher is a difficult one. There are a great many situations that I’ve dealt with head on…there can be more damage done attemting to dodge conflict. But how I hate the existence of internal conflict. Its civil war.

Part of the diffuculty of a summer period is that its very difficult to communicate with your people…some are away, we only have morning meetings, we have our fulough…and there is a great sense of frustration that there isn’t the opportunity for depth of prayer worship. Our morning meeting tends to be a little less deep, more family friendly and there are some people who are very young in faith.

So, I get this sense that I am going on holiday with a few things hanging – which I don’t like! But its God’s corps and I know he will find a way of dealing with it!!!

The key is still prayer though. We need to devote ourselves to it more and more…I need to devote myself to it more and more. Agonising prayer as in child-birth is the kinda prayer. God give us grace to commit and endure.

The war rages in my mind between two mental pictures…that is, the vision of what can be and the reality of what is. I understood why Jesus looked over Jerusalem and wept. I passionately love the Bride of Christ but I’m reminded that Christ is returning for a bride without spot or blemish. Pure, holy, cleansed, garments fresh.

We’ve been doing a little bit of a series called ‘Holy Holidays’ – giving our holiness doctrine a well needed and deserved air. Although my training college doctrine teacher would never have approved, we’re even seeing what Brengle has to say now and again!

But then, sometimes you preach your heart out, preach the full gospel – sanctification and all – but the conversation over coffee is still as nippy as a Scottish breeze up your kilt on a good old Edinburgh day. A heart remains unmoved, unchanged, unchallenged…the work of the Spirit resisted.

Now, Pill is a good corps, don’t get me wrong. We have some good soldiers and some very good ones. But my prayer is that God would move in the heart of us all….to continutally chip away everything that isn’t of him, everything that wounds his heart, everything which contributed to the pain of a dying Jesus on a Roman cross.

Commissioner Ed Read (ptG) said that we can’t let the possibility of being holy tomorrow be an excuse for not being holier today. As I just re-read my sermon for tomorrow, the word of God spoke to my heart again. I’m praying that his Spirit will hover over tomorrow and that hearts will reclaimed, hearts renewed, visions restored, burdens lifted.

But I’ll garuantee…there will be a thousand battles to be overcome before now and standing on the platform. I say to Satan…’come on, do your best’ because he must know that anything he tries between now and then to thwart God’s purposes will have the opposite effect. If he remains silent, we’ve won. If he causes a stir we’ll shout hallelujah and praise God for he is about to move. Satan has no authority here…his days are numbered.

We are fully aware of his schemes…the way that he turns brother against brother, sister against sister. Deciet, lying, resentment and bitterness are his key allies. I challenge them all in the name of Jesus.

Bless his name he sets me freeBless his name he sets me freeOh the blood, the precious bloodI’m resting in the cleansing floodBless his name he sets me freeBless his name he sets me freeI know my sins are washed awayand not in Jesus I am free

I know a found where sins are washed away.I know a place where night is turned to day.Burdens are lifted, blind eyes made to seethere’s a wonder working power in the blood of calvary.

Here is love, vast as the ocean.Loving-kindness as a floodwhere the prince of life, our ransom,shed for us his precious bloodwho his love will not rememberwho can cease to sing his praisehe can never be forgottenthroughout heaven’s eternal days.

All that I am,All I can be,All that I have,All that is meaccept and use Lord,as you would choose LordRight now today.Take every passion, every skill,take all my dreams and bend to your willmy all I give Lord, for you i’ll live Lordcome what may.

Can I reccomend the Journal of Aggressive Christianity to you..the new edition is out, online, free today! Its an online journal for the thinking salvationist and something to fuel your fire for the fight. (Just follow the link above)

I’ve got a little article in this months edition entitled ‘War in the Post-Modern World’ – a little bit of reflection on how we be who we are called to be in the face of the supposed post-modern mindset that I’m not always convinced is as real amongst everyday people as opposed to the dwellers of ivory towers. Neverthless, there are issues we need to face boldly.

Commissioner Shaw Clifton recently re-affirmed his concern about the dwindling soldier numbers. We have made 3 in our time here but we’ve run out of converts. Now, the question is, are we failing to communicate the gospel, or are we preaching the gospel boldly at all. I think the nature of our corps problem is not the way we communicate but that we don’t communicate the gospel enough.

I reflect about what might be more beneficial for us as an Army this summer…join in the (largely quite dull) ecumenical services with the other churches or get out into the community and have ‘church’ on the streets in the summer evenings….something to graple with for next year.

Anyway, read the Journal of Aggressive Christianity. You will like it.